Apple has temporarily paused the rollout of iPadOS 18 for M4 iPad Pro models, some of the most expensive iPads that the company sells, after some users complained that the update bricked their devices. Apple acknowledged the issue in a statement to Engadget, saying, “We have temporarily removed the iPadOS 18 update for M4 iPad Pro models as we work to resolve an issue that is impacting a small number of devices.”
The issue first came to light through Reddit, where a growing number of M4 iPad Pro users described how their iPads became unusable after they tried installing the latest version of iPadOS. “At some point during the update my iPad turned off, and would no longer turn on,” a user named tcorey23 posted on Reddit. “I just took it to the Apple Store who confirmed it’s completely bricked, but they said they had to send it out to their engineers before they can give me a replacement even though I have Apple care.”
Another Reddit user called Lisegot wrote that the Apple Store they took their bricked M4 iPad Pro to did not have a replacement in stock, which meant they they would need to wait five to seven days for a working iPad. “No one was particularly apologetic and they even insinuated that there was no way for them to know whether the update caused this,” they wrote.
Having a software bug brick an iPad is rare. ArsTechnica, which first reported this story, pointed out that iPads can typically be put into recovery mode if a software update goes bad.
If you own an M4 iPad Pro, Apple will no longer offer you iPadOS 18 until it fixes the issue. It’s not clear when it will be fixed.